Experiential Learning #10 (A.K.A. All Down, None to go!)

My Experience “Blogging”

I must say honestly, that when I read through the syllabus and I seen that we had to create a blog and that was how we were going to be doing our Experiential Learning, I was completely clueless as to what you meant by a blog. Of course I always heard the term being used, but I did not know exactly what it meant. Now I’m excited to say that I’m in “the know”!

When I first started I was unsure of what I was doing. You can tell that by my very first entry. I was excited and confused all at the same time; but honestly it is a very simple process. Just to know that your thoughts would be available for practically anybody to see is a little unnerving, but interesting at the same time. I got use to the process by the second or third blog. I like the way I can personalize it by changing the color of the font of each entry and also the background color scheme. Can you tell pink is one of my favorite colors?

This leads to the main point of this final blog; the thought of blogging as a type of public forum, in which I agree. It is totally public. As a matter of fact, I don’t remember if you did have to acknowledge some kind of consent when you set up the blog site, but they should have something there letting you know that it would be made public when you post. I like to think of it as my own little newspaper that I print out a few times every week or so. I think the idea is cool. Just to be able to voice your opinion is great. I actually haven’t seen too many of the other blogs that are available through Blogger, the site at which I created my blog, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t view them everywhere we go. I think it’s just a matter of opinion as to what one would define a public forum to be. But it definitely is something that can and looks to be easily accessed by the public and is made specifically for the public to view.

I also think it was a very cool idea for you to suggest posting our experiential learning online. Not only did this cut down on printing, resulting in saving ink and paper, my money tree says “THANK YOU”!!! It also was just a great idea. The only thing is I would have liked to view the blogs of my classmates. I think it would have been neat to see what they were writing about and their thought on things. Of course I understand the precautions you would need to take in that, but overall I think it might have helped when it came to the reflections.

All in all, it was a successful semester. I really enjoyed the class. The work load wasn’t that bad, everything tends to look worse over the summer, but it was manageable and fun at the same time. And I seriously do feel better about speaking in public. I will try to remember what I learned and use it when I have to make other speeches and presentations for class and life beyond college. Thanks for the education! See-ya!

Shekera Diane

P.S. For the purpose of those who have been reading these blogs, outside of you professor, this will probably be the last one, so don’t hold your breath! =)

Four Down, one to go!

I must say I had the most fun with this assignment. Everything from the beginning to end was not only interesting to me but entertaining. It also seemed to be the most successful speech; not only for me but also out of all the other speeches of the day. I felt we were the most successful because we seemed to get our message across with the most information including facts and statistics which also made it the most interesting and visually effective.

As I stated, our speech seemed to be the most successful speech of the day. I enjoyed the reactions, questions and comments that we received during and after our speech. That always makes me believe that we got the job done.

As for the topic chosen, as you know, we got the idea for our topic from you and may a say that You Are A Genius! Had you forgotten, it was on the violent video games. The topic was not only fun but brilliant for this type of project. I really enjoyed getting the research done, especially putting together the PowerPoint, even though the final presentation slides weren’t shown correctly, they still worked. As far as for the actual information, we chose to address a range of areas involved with our topic including the benefits and social issues of the violence in video games. We chose to address these in a way in which they would be viewed as a positive for the video gaming industry and in which we would be gearing the whole argument toward it being an educational influence. I am very pleased with the way the presentation turned out. I think the information was well researched and well put together and it was an overall success.

In relation to the other presentations I made, I think this presentation and experience was great. Not to say that I thought the other presentations were bad, but I think this one was one of the best. That’s funny isn’t it, the first and the last turned out to be my favorites. Anyway, one of my favorite parts of the whole thing was the inclusion of the PowerPoint pictures as a visual aid. I know a couple of those pictures were a bit obscene, like the sexual education pictures, but I think they were also realistic and needed to be included for that reason exactly.

As for working in a partnership, I thought it was great. At first I was a little worried because I didn’t know who I was going to be working with or even what I was going to be doing; but after Rachael and I got together and got our idea from you, and a couple of pointers, we were set and we knew exactly how we wanted to propose our “Modest Proposal”. Rachael was great too! The ideas she had just kept flowing, especially when it came to the conclusion. I think the conclusion was one of the most effective parts of the whole presentation, you know when I listed what we needed to get rid of and what we needed to replace it with, she came up with that part; and she had no problem doing her share of the work. The work was distributed equally. We both did the research in all areas, and backed each other up whenever we needed help or weren’t finding the information we were looking for.

I’d say some pros and cons of making this a partner project would be:

Pros Cons
- More ideas to work with -Providing constructive criticism respectfully
-Help with the research -Finding the time to get together to get work done
-Help with putting every-
thing together
-Sharing the presentation of
the final project

And those are just to name a few, but just to let you know, the pros do highly outweigh the cons!

Nevertheless, if I were to do it over again I would choose to have a partner over not having one. I think it always helps to have a partner, especially if they don’t believe in social loafing and are committed to getting the job done, which my partner was. I would also try and fix those slides so they would come out the way we wanted them to. I mean, the problem wasn’t that big of a deal. It was just that some of the slides were supposed to have a title to them, and I wanted them all to be in equal size to each other, but in the end it didn’t seem to be too much of a distraction, so that’s okay.

In preparing for the speech we went over it a couple of times separate and a couple of times together. Most of our meetings were over the phone due to our schedules, but it worked out because we were looking at the same thing. The delivery went almost went as smooth as can be. I know I definitely felt a lot more put together and comfortable up there, so it was cool. The only thing was probably the switching of the slides that was a bit delayed since we had so many, but like I said the PowerPoint wasn’t too much of a distraction, was it? Anyway, the delivery went well. We both did well in presenting our parts and it all tended to flow from what I heard. Also I think we were right on time as far as ending the presentation. The questions comments are a whole other subject.

In conclusion, I thought it was a great project. I loved the fact that I could have fun with it. Like I said in class, I never had a project that I could remember having fun with. By having fun I mean it was kind of funny the way our argument was posed and it was fun putting it together. I think you should continue with this one!

Experiential Learning #9

Ceremonial Speech

When preparing this speech I told myself that I am going to try my best not to make this sound repetitious or like something you have hear before; but I guess the problem with that is if you love somebody and you want to express it, there’s really only one way to do it, and that’s just to do it; so here goes.

When my mother told me she was engaged I was trilled. It was just a few weeks before I myself had gotten engaged, and to hear the animation and contentment in her voice I almost cried with joy. Some may think this was a bit bizarre for a mother and daughter to be getting engaged around the same time, but we knew it was the best thing that could ever happen to the both of us. Allow me to explain. To know that your mother has truly found the love of her life and would be able to spend the rest of her life communicating that love with a partner who you know in your heart would love, care, and respect her for who she is places my heart and mind at ease. My mother truly deserves the best, and everyday I thank God for blessing us with her and all that he has blessed her with, especially her one true love.

So before I continue I would like to say thank you mom for your love, your trust and guidance, your strength and friendship. Without you I can absolutely say that I would not be the woman I am today, and I am very much proud of the woman you taught me to be. I know this sounds a bit cliché but YOU ARE the best mom in the world. I love you so so so so much, and I hope you know this with all of your heart; and although we gave you that card for mothers day that promised we would never return to live at home under any circumstances, it wasn’t signed with our “legal” names so it would not be considered binding in court!

Whilst I am on this thanking spree, there are a few more people that I would like to acknowledge and I promise to be brief! First, family, friends and guests for coming, and sharing this dear moment in time with us, but let me ask please do not think of this as an occasion, because, put simply, this is definite to last the test of time, so this is not an occasion but a celebration of a life long commitment. Now, most importantly, I would like to thank the groom, Rick. Thank you Rick for coming into my mother’s life and giving her the love, respect, care, and security that she deserves. Thank you for being the step-father of a lifetime and displaying love and respect for myself, my brother, and my family. Thank you for being so kind since the day we met, always willing to help and give in any way that you could; by the way we will always be patrons of Rick’s Flicks as long as you will have it.

So now I turn to the newlyweds and offer my definition. Love: A temporary insanity curable by marriage. We love you, goodnight and God Bless.

Experiential Learning #8

Critique on Lecture: “Situational Leadership”
Chas Sumser, Chief Personnel Officer, Sr. Vice President

On Tuesday, June 20, 2006 Chas Sumser of FGM, Inc. gave a lecture on “Situational Leadership” in my Management 301 class on the Fairfax campus of George Mason University. The specific purpose of his lecture was based on the general lecture of the day which was on Leadership. In his lecture he covered the theory of Situational Leadership based on the studies of Dr. Paul Hersey.

Mr. Sumser used a couple of needs from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in order to relate to his audience. He started off with the importance of his message which included to “Never Stop Learning!” and related the specific purpose and thesis to the Esteem and Self-actualization levels included in the hierarchy. For example, for the self-esteem need he associated pride and success in learning the leadership skills necessary for a successful career in leadership and management. A specific example from his lecture includes his discussion on the importance of understanding and studying the specific theories that apply to this field. He also informed us that a successful career in leadership was based on the individuals’ education, experience or time spent in an area, and roles held. As for the self-actualization need, Mr. Sumser helped us realize the importance in developing our individual identities especially when it applied to understanding and building our own theories based on what was studied. He also pointed out the importance of realizing our potential in our chosen field because it would help us reach our overall goal if we knew where we were going from the beginning.

He continued the lecture when he began his introduction of Situational Leadership and how different styles apply to different situations. He also expanded on what a leader would need to know in order to successfully lead and manage. This is where Mr. Sumser used finding common ground as a way to relate to the students. He talked about his past and compared his days as a student with his modern student audience. He also brought up a previous experience he had with giving lectures to college students and how it helped him with this work.

Some useful insight that he provided in the lecture included detailed descriptions and examples of each style and level included in the theory. This helped the audience understand the difference between each and its’ importance along with relating the overall message to the class lecture, Leadership, and the class objective, Organizational Behavior.

In regards to his physical appearance, it was clear that he had done lectures on this topic or topics in relation to this. He was very calm and collected, and he seemed to be very comfortable in his environment. He continuously maintained eye contact and his posture was how it should be. He also used a variety of presentation aids including a PowerPoint presentation and Lego’s that he used as a demonstration of a few of the styles that the theory points out. He also took the time to answer questions along with comments in order to involve the audience.

I didn’t really choose to attend this lecture as it occurred during class time; but I am glad I decided to stay because not only was the information useful but also interesting. I understood the overall message and it is interesting to know that studying and understanding simple behavioral theories may mean the difference between success and failure in your chosen field.

Experiential Learning #7

Critique on Peer Persuasive Speeches

In each of these speeches the goal of my peers was to gain the favorable consideration of the audience for their points of view. This is also known as the art of persuasion.

To begin, all of my peers including myself utilized audience demographics in order to better motivate and persuade their audience; though this seemed to be done unconsciously. For example, in order to achieve the maximum effect of persuasion from the audience, my peers tended to adjust as much as possible to the audience demographics. Audience demographics are defined as “how people feel about subjects is often affected by their age, gender, education, group affiliations, and sociocultural backgrounds. This action is done to better identify important “attitudes, preferences, or concerns across a general population” or in this case a “target audience”. For example, the target audience is the class which includes a total no larger than 10 individuals all gathered for a common cause, to take a class and learn the aspects that go along with Public Speaking. Age and education are a couple of these demographics, and because the majority of the audience is around the same age and we are all there in the same situation being in college and have about the same education, those two are given. There is also the identification of the gender and sociocultural backgrounds of each individual. There was a speech that pertained to one gender more over the other, but it didn’t seem as if the information was adjusted based on the genders included in the audience. The topics that were discussed seemed to be basic and not bias toward any one demographic over another; but it is important to note that this should have been something that needed to be taken into consideration when preparing these speeches.

Next, all of my peers utilized attention grasping information including: facts, statistics, and plenty of examples; some even used expert testimony and quotations. Another thing that I thought was useful was the inclusion of definitions for some terms that were being used. I thought this was important because if an individual in the audience was unaware of the subject being discussed, in order to better motivate them they would need to be fully aware of what is being said. For example, one of the speeches performed by Arieyl was titled: Emergency Contraception a.k.a Plan B. Even though I could reason it was a type of contraception which would be something to help prevent pregnancies, I didn’t know exactly what it was; so a definition was totally useful in this situation.

Lastly, all of the speeches included the Process of Persuasion. This process is defined by five stages: awareness, understanding, agreement, enactment, and integration. In my opinion, some of these speeches skipped some stages or even did not finish the process to move its audience toward a goal, but in the end the message was still understandable.

The first stage as previously noted is awareness. In this stage the speaker had the responsibility of telling the audience about a problem and informing them of the effects it has on our lives. For example, in one of the speeches, “Animal Testing” by Erin, she immediately let the audience know of her position on animal testing and explained why it was such a problem that needed to be confronted. Erin did this by asking a plethora of questions at the beginning and throughout her speech in order to both keep the attention of the audience and to reiterate the significance of the problem. She then stated how it affected our lives and gave numerous alternatives to solve the problem.

The second step is understanding. In this phase it is the job of the listeners to retain and understand what it is that the speaker is saying in order to make the audience want to react. For example, in Christy’s speech on “Organ Donors” she showed her stance on the issue by showing the importance of becoming an organ donor. For example, after she was done giving examples and reasons for why one should sign up to become an organ donor I related it to myself and understood that I would want to be able to save another life by registering to become an organ donor and tried to remember if I was registered or not.

The third and fourth phase seemed to take place simultaneously for me. These are: agreement and enactment. In these phases I found myself agreeing with a lot of these speeches and realizing that there was a problem that needed to be acted on and I wanted to help make a change. For example, one of the speeches that really got me thinking was Mary’s speech on “Capital Punishment”. First of all I already agree with the fact that I don’t think anybody should have the right to take the life of another person just because of an action taken by that person. Secondly, I realized that was not her only argument when she stated the total costs of execution vs. life imprisonment. When I heard this information I was ready to make a change, especially given the fact that this money was coming from the pockets of the American taxpayer.

The last step is integration, in which the audience realizes the connection the information shared has with their lives. In this connection we tend to see a “consistency between our values and behaviors.” For example, in the speech “Drink Water or Die” by Rachael, I always knew it was important to drink water and keep that balance; but when I heard her speech and all the possible side effects from not drinking enough water, I wanted to change my actions and thinking on the subject. Therefore I integrated this new attitude to drink more water and committed to it after the speech. Rachael also helped make this decision easier when she passed out water bottles at the end of her speech.

In conclusion, all of the speeches seemed to persuade my thoughts. From the use of audience demographics and the persuasion process I feel as though my peers did a great job persuading the audience.

Three Down, two to go!

Let me begin by stating that I think I did a great job on this speech. Compared to the previous one I felt like I knew the information better and was able to express it in a way that seemed to get the job done, persuade my audience. My topic was Ban on Public Smoking and I think the design worked out perfectly. I used the Problem-Solution design. This design worked so well because as it states, it offers a problem and a solution to fix the problem and it allows this to be done while convincing the audience that it’s the right thing to do. The problem was the effects of public smoking, and the solution was to place a ban on it.

As far as the validity of my position, I think it was a topic that was universally understood. Everybody knows what smoking is, and even if they don’t know exactly what the serious effects may be, they know that it is harmful. This speech just revisited that subject and since it was such an acknowledged topic I don’t think it was hard for the
audience to understand my stance on it.

I chose this topic when I was trying to think of something that I both already knew about and that I felt strongly about. To tell the truth, I couldn’t think of anything that I felt I was equal in both areas. It wasn’t until I asked my fiancé what I should do and he said, “How about smoking?” When he said that I knew exactly what I was going to do; not only did I want to challenge smoking in general, but I also wanted to provide an argument for not smoking in public as to not cause harm to anybody else. As a matter of fact, I characterized my audience based on the fact that everybody knows the effects of smoking, and everybody knows at least one person that smokes. Therefore I could relate it to my audience somehow, and this helped when it came to getting my point across.

When it came to my research, I based what I chose and integrated into my speech on my audience. In general I wanted to provide as many facts, statistics, and testimony as possible to further emphasize my point. I related it to my immediate audience by reinforcing the fact that smoking is around us wherever we are, and that is what I wanted to put a stop to. I did this precisely to “target” my audience, especially with the facts and statistics telling basically what I thought people would want to avoid if they heard it so many times. For example, in my speech I mentioned health effects such as: different types of cancers and diseases that may come from smoking.

As previously stated, I thought the best way to present my argument along with my information was through a problem-solution design. This was also the best way for me to utilize my facts and statistics because it provided plenty of room for them in between presenting the problem and identifying a solution. An example of this would be how I defined and provided an example for my personal idea of public space. I made sure I made room for this somewhere in the speech because we talked about how I needed to inform the audience of exactly what I meant when I said “Public Smoking”, and I think this definition helped clarify that. Another example of how I related this to the audience is when I used an example that went with the definition. I said that an example of public area would be school because people gather there for a common cause or goal of education.

If I could do this speech differently I would liked to have add more influence on the presentation, by maybe adding some presentation aids, or adding more hand and facial gestures. I’ve noticed that my peers and I tend to stand still during our presentations and talk straight to the audience as if we’re bound to the podium. If I could do this one over I would have liked to walk around more and add more gestures and facial expressions that would help express my feelings. Especially with this being a persuasive speech, I would have liked to get more personal with my audience and get inside their comfort zones to help emphasize how serious I was and how dedicated I was to getting a reaction. I also would have liked to add more facts, even though I’m sure I had enough, I think this is one of those subjects in which the more you have the better because it just helps to reinforce your position. Also, I think the problem is limited time, because if I had more time to prepare for this speech and more time to memorize exactly what I wanted to say, I would spend less time trying to remember what I wanted to say without looking down at my papers so much. I know the speech was suppose to be extemporaneous and that means it was not supposed to be memorized or read exactly, but I would like to feel comfortable enough with my speeches to have maybe a few words on my note cards, along with some quotes and facts, and that would be the only time I would use them. Again, I really think this speech would have been at its best had I added in much more emotion in my face and in my movements.

As for repeating what I did in the speech, I think my pitch was great. I don’t know if you know this but I am a very soft spoken person, and most of the time I have to remind myself to speak up before I speak so I won’t have to repeat myself. So I was happy with both my tone and my pitch. Even though this has nothing to do with the speech itself, something that I would do the same is dress up. I like to dress up for my presentations; and I’m particularly happy I dressed up for this presentation because it was being taped. This was something I was surprised at seeing since none of the other speeches were taped; though I think it was a good idea. This way we could actually see how effective we are at giving these speeches and it may help others prepare and evaluate speeches also. Something I was not surprised at was the fact that I was not asked any questions. I already knew that I probably wouldn’t get any questions because it was such a popular topic, but I was prepared to answer any that may have come my way.

In conclusion, I liked my speech, and I remember saying to myself that I loved my topic, and it was the perfect topic for me. Though as I’ve said, I really think if I would have made it more memorable if I added more to it as far as expression. The only thing I fear is because this topic is widely known I’m afraid the message went in one ear and out the other. That kind of thing tends to happen when something is heard over and over, but hopefully somehow my message had a unique side to it and will make a difference sometime somewhere.

Experiential Learning #6

Critique on MTV video in conjunction with Dreamworlds II: Desire, Sex, & Power in Music

As put by the makers of Dreamworlds II, “the challenge is to make your ad stand out among the others by using powerful sexual images.” Dreamworlds is a video made to express the effects of the dominant images of desire, sex, and power in music. The purpose of the video is to inform society of influences music videos and advertisements hold. It is a known fact that besides the use of entertainment, music videos are used to help sell the music they represent. It was stated in the video that there is a distinction, however insignificant, between the advertisements that we view on TV and the videos that are associated with music. This is where the video represents its message.

Dreamworlds holds a type of persuasive message. The question of the video reads, “What is the story about sexuality that videos tell as they try and sell us music cds and tapes?” The video also points out the fact that sexual imagery has played an important part of music videos from the start. The author also points out the significance of the imagery of female sexuality as becoming a common sight in society. Another question to ask is, “Who tells the story?” Is it the females who are being exploited through the music or the writers and directors of the music and videos which studies show happen to be male and represent 90% of those in the industry? A second message of the video answers the question; “the story” is a story of female sexuality as told by men. This question and answer are not just limited to videos, they are also asked in commercials, TV programs, big-screen movies, and fashion magazines.

Persuasion is defined as: “Art of gaining fair and favorable consideration for our points of view.” The seven characteristics of persuasion that are evident in the Dreamworlds video include: the act of urging a choice from your audience, working as an advocate and a speaker, transforming supporting material into evidence that justifies advice, asking for a commitment from your audience, showing leadership, appeals to feelings, and identifying the ethical obligation.

The author of the Dreamworlds video starts off by urging support from the audience to be aware of the influential material in music. Next the speaker takes the role of both the speaker and an advocate for the acknowledgement of the effect of music in our lives. Third, the video uses facts, statistics, and plenty of examples that is based on “responsible knowledge” and is in the best interest to the listeners. Fourth, there is always a commitment asked from the audience to even consider the message and if need be help make a change. In this case, it would be quite difficult to make such a significant change in the advertisement of music and products. Next, the author of the video presents himself as a leader to be able to come out and almost protest the sex and power in music by making it a known and studied event. This is important because at this point the “ethos” of the author is in the spotlight. Sixth, the appeals to the feelings and emotions of the audience are important. This way you will have the attention of the audience because they know they are directly being affected. Just think about it, how much different do you think the message affect you if you were male or female? Lastly, is the greatest obligation, to use persuasion ethically. In your opinion, does Dreamworlds ethically confront us to believe and act in responsible ways in result to hearing its message?

My example of what Dreamworlds is representing in its message comes from the music video by Nelly Furtado Feat. Timbaland entitled, “Promiscuous”. This video is set in a club scene with repeated close ups of the girls dancing with the guys. Everybody is in clothes that would be considered “clubbing gear”, which for the girls would be tight fitting revealing clothing. The song is about a promiscuous girl trying to get with a guy she must have met in the club. A line from the song states, “Promiscuous girl you teasing me, you know what I want and I got what you need.” This was the perfect example because it spells out what Dreamworlds represents; the use of the sexuality of women to sell the music. In this case not only the video contained the sexual images, but also the lyrics defined the purpose of “Dreamworlds”.

A major challenge that Dreamworlds would have in putting out their message, which also goes along with persuasive speaking is: “enticing a reluctant audience to listen”. For example, if the majority of those who write and direct these videos and advertisements are men, you may have those who are members of the audience who simply oppose the position that Dreamworlds offers. Honestly speaking, there are steps to take to help combat this reluctance of individuals in the audience, but because music represents such large part of society, I highly doubt that one would be successful.

In my opinion, I understand where the author of Dreamworlds is coming from to expose this problem for what it is. But I also believe that this problem wouldn’t be such a big issue if it weren’t for those who are being exposed. The women; it is the women who allow this type of exposure and sexuality. In their opinion there is no problem and this is just a part of life, and “how things are supposed to be”. I chose the video I did because I like the song; though I had never seen the video before today. And I must say, in seeing this video in conjunction with the Dreamworlds video did make me view it much differently then what I probably would have, had I seen them separately.

In conclusion, we all know that “sex sales”; and as long as this view is accepted in society, everything else will be.

Experiential Learning #5

Critique on Peer Informative Speech:
“How to Build a Fire” by Ben Steenblik

For our Informative Speech requirement there were a range of topics discussed in class from How to Buy a Bird, to Sleep Deprivation to The consequences of Drinking and Driving. Well the topic that stuck with me the most out of all was, “How to Build a Fire”.

The main purpose of this informative speech was to share knowledge on “How to Build a Fire”. Not only was this speech informative but it was also interesting. I must admit, when Ben was first setting up his Presentation Aids, which I will discuss later in more detail, I began to wonder “what in the world could he possibly be talking about with a bunch of sticks?” But I was pleasantly surprised. Even though I am not too much of a nature buff, I was in the Girl Scouts once and I do appreciate a short lesson on these things every now and then. However, Ben’s speech empowered his audience by giving them new ideas and skills on how to do this task. A few tactics that he used included: having a low demand on his audience, motivating his listeners to pay attention to his message, being selective in sharing his information, and providing a detailed description.

Ben’s demand on his audience was very low. So low in fact that he did not begin his presentation by asking questions to be answered or even asking the listeners to be active about something after hearing his message. But then again, his topic and demonstration was so attention grabbing that he didn’t have to. I actually don’t know if the topic in general was appealing to the audience as a whole, but he certainly got my vote. The only problem I could think of by speaking on a topic such as this one would be to be: how affective you are to your audience. Even though in this situation you have no way of telling how many people in your audience would need to know this type of information without personally asking.

Regardless of the fact of knowing if it would be affective or not, Ben knew how to motivate his audience. By explaining the fact of building the proper fire could mean the difference between life or death, Ben was able to capture the attention and motivation of the listeners. At least I know that I felt like if I didn’t pay attention I would miss out on something that could potentially save my life one day.

In addition to motivating his audience, Ben was also wise to be selective in the information that he intended to share. For example, in the beginning he made it clear that he was only going to talk about and demonstrate one specific way to build a fire. He had let his audience know that there were plenty of other ways to master this skill, but in the interest of time he wanted to show the way in which he preferred to build his fires. Another way in which Ben was selective was in his decision was to not to go into detail on how to ignite the fire. According to Ben, building a fire and starting a fire are two totally different procedures. Therefore, also in the interest of time, he felt it best to limit exactly what he would be informing his audience of. Lastly, the speaker was able to retain the attention of the audience by providing a detailed description of the procedure, while showing each item and describing its’ difference and importance among the others. Being a demonstrative speech, he was demonstrating as he was talking; and even though the demonstration would have been enough to allow the audience to understand the process, his description added even more detail motivating the audience to recall every step. For example, I still remember the motions his hands made as he was explaining how important the structure of the fire was so that it enabled the burning pieces to fall in on themselves creating a “stronger base”.

As previously stated I wanted point out the importance of the speaker using presentation aids during the speech. Presentation aids are defined as: “supplemental materials used to enhance the effectiveness and clarity of a presentation.” A couple of advantages that these aids proved to have during the presentation included: enhancing the understanding and making the presentation memorable. A disadvantage would be distracting listeners.

In this presentation the aids used were the different types of sticks needed to build the proper fire. I found that they helped enhance my understanding because had the speaker decided to just talk about them rather than bring in examples and show them, my fire would probably be inefficient and I would die in an emergency situation! Also, the sticks made the presentation memorable, for example, if I was the one out of the group of survivors from a plane crash to go and collect the materials to build a fire, I could do it now! But before, we would be short! That is unless Ben was on the plane too!

A disadvantage I noticed I was guilty of was being distracted by the presentation aids. Like I stated earlier, at the beginning of the presentation I found myself wondering what he could be using them for. Then even while he was explaining the use of each type I found myself paying attention to the sticks themselves. I don’t know what was so interesting about the sticks, but they must have intrigued me.

In conclusion, it is easy to see why Ben’s speech was so successful. He managed to inform his audience about a type of skill while keeping everybody’s attention throughout the presentation. Maybe it was because his speech didn’t last as long as everybody else’s! Whatever the case I do know that if ever anybody needs to know how to build a fire, now they know!

Experiential Learning #4

Critique on Presidential Address:
“Constitutional Amendment Banning Same-Sex Marriage”
Viewed from: http://www.c-span.org/VideoArchives.asp?z1=&PopupMenu_Name=White%20House/Exec.&CatCodePairs=Issue,WHE;

To tell the truth this is the first time that I have willingly sat down to watch a speech from our president. That probably doesn’t sound too good, but I would like to say that I was actually impressed. Even though I don’t support everything he does, or even the subject of this speech in its entirety, I was impressed with the deliverance of the speech.

The speech was delivered by President George Bush on June 6, 2006 in our nation’s capital, Washington D.C. The specific purpose of this speech was to express his support for a constitutional amendment to protect the institution of marriage. In addition, the thesis statement of the speech stated, “Marriage is the most fundamental institution of civilization and it should not be redefined by activist judges.” We spoke about the difference between the two: specific purpose and thesis statement in class this week. We acknowledged that they were two separate parts of the speech, defined differently, but have some things in common. According to this speech, the specific purpose and thesis statement are related by the overall message being to support the issue of amending the constitution in order to ban same-sex marriage.

When I was evaluating this speech I also noticed that the speech contained all the aspects of the principles of good form. It was simplistic. For example, after greeting his audience he made them aware of the specific purpose of the speech and his view which also happened to be the thesis statement. He didn’t explicitly state which points he was going to make, but he did state them in an orderly fashion throughout the speech, which leads me to the second principle, order. For example, the purpose was proposing a solution so he was right to present the problem directly afterward in his thesis statement. Lastly, each part of the speech received appropriate development. In my opinion the speech had an ascending order balance design, because it seemed as if the bulk of his information and commenting was toward the end of body and toward the beginning of the conclusion. For example, after the introduction and his view were stated he actually got into the definition of the proposed “Marriage Protection Amendment”. He stated it was a constitutional amendment defining marriage as “only of the union of a man and a woman”. He continued with where the policy was aimed, which is at strengthening families, and then he began to state various facts and statistics regarding the consensus of the act: what the public has already decided on, the effect the states have toward the decision, and the challenges of implementing the act. This is where the bulk of the matter comes from. For example, he states in “1996 Congress approved the Defense of Marriage Act”…”President Clinton signed it into law…and since then 19 states have held referendums to amend their state constitutions to protect the traditional definition of marriage.” These are a few examples of how his speech was reinforced with facts and statistics. He also used a bit of “up-to-date” information which also helped reinforce his point. He states, “At this moment 9 states face law suites challenging the marriage laws they have on the books.” Not only does this help the audience understand further into the topic, but it also helps them realize that he has responsible knowledge on the topic. The only other thing that he does not utilize was presentation aids, but I don’t know what he could use as a presentation aid in this type of speech. Even if he had decided to use something to reinforce his message, I don’t know that it would have been that effective; besides the speech was only going on 10 minutes.

Some helpful insight that he provides in the speech is: an exact definition of the Defense of Marriage Act, and the process it takes to amend the constitution. This helped me identify the importance of the public opinion because I had not known that it took so much to amend the constitution. Given he does not write his speeches he still did an excellent job on effectively presenting it. In comparison to the last speech from the President that we watched in class, most of his speeches tend to have both an informative and persuasive perspective based upon them. His conclusion began with his restating both the specific purpose and the thesis following with his concluding remarks: “Support this issue for our country, and the best way is to amend the constitution.”

In regards to his physical appearance he was very impressionable and dignified. He continued to maintain eye contact as in with the other speech. His posture was good and his rate and pitch varied a bit. His pitch varied a little from the beginning, but he tended to sound a little monotone toward the end, but he was able to keep my attention, so it couldn’t have made that much of an effect. Also his rate varied throughout the speech. When he gave examples he tended to talk faster than when he began to reiterate his point and his view is when he slowed down and paused for emphasis.

I choose this speech because it was a speech that took place during the summer semester and also because it is on a topic that I have an opinion. My thoughts on the issue are as follows, I don’t know that I agree with amending the constitution just to keep the “definition of the traditional marriage” consistent. I think people should have the right to choose how they want to live their lives, just like people have the right to choose to do all the other things that affect their lives and the lives of the people around them. An example of this would be smoking. I don’t see the President or anybody else for that matter trying to amend the constitution to include a ban on smoking even though it is among the world’s top killers. My thought is what gives them or anybody the right to dictate the lives of others?

Two down, three to go!

Okay, where do I begin? For my informative speech I wanted to do a topic that I already knew about, of course, but also something that would be interesting and that I could find a lot of information and examples on. I chose Hip-Hop because it was literally the first thing that came to my mind about what I wanted to inform my audience on. I don’t know why this was the case, maybe it was because all I do is listen to music in my car, and that’s where I do most of my thinking because when I’m stuck in traffic I get bored! However, I chose Hip-Hop and I was sure I could find some relatively notable sources on the topic, both from the library and from the internet. The type was again extemporaneous and I had prepared an outline to use during the presentation. This time I did a couple of things differently. First, I did not have note cards along with my outline during the presentation. Last time they were helpful, but I found that it was easier for me to get my point across without too much of looking down and flipping through note cards, even though I had about four pages of outline, I guess that didn’t help too much either! Secondly, I used more examples. Last time I touched on how I wish I would have brought in a picture of my family to reiterate my point, and this time I made sure that I got my point across. I also think that my topic was a good one because from the beginning I had the attention of the audience. I think that’s another reason why I chose it. I thought it would be something that could relate to the majority of the audience through the motivation of both esteem and belonging. I don’t know if this motivation was exactly expressed to my audience, or if they could have picked up on the motivation factor, but I chose esteem and belonging because one of my main points in the speech was to point out the importance of hip-hop and the respect and pride one feels when they are able to express themselves, and the acceptance and group membership they feel when they become a part of the culture itself. I believe I did fit the requirements of the speech, all for one part of it. I’m sure, no positive that I went over the time limit. I don’t know how far over I went, but I felt like I was up there explaining the whole history of Hip-Hop even though I only touched on a few aspects of it. I’m actually glad some of the applications didn’t work, because if they had I probably would have been up there even longer trying to explain my examples of Hip-Hop in advertisements. But in general I think I did end up teaching the audience something they might not have already known.

A few aspects that I would improve for the delivery of the speech would definitely be the time limit. Like I said before, I know I went over, and I don’t like doing that. When I was practicing the night before it seemed like it went over a bit too, but I don’t think I was too concerned about it because I felt like I couldn’t take anything out. How long was it exactly? Also like I said, I would have liked to show my other advertisement examples, but seeing as I didn’t and it would have been longer anyway, I’m okay with it. As for improving the speech itself, you brought up a good point. I knew I didn’t have too much information on the actual struggles and challenges that Hip-Hop faced, and I wanted to find more information. Surprisingly enough, out of all of the books that I got from the library, that are listed in my references, they had very few information tidbits on the actual struggles. But since I knew that was an important point I thought I would just list them and then move on. I would rather not say too much about it than to make up something. Another point I would try to find more information on is the definition of a DJ. I wasn’t able to find that. It was like the authors of the books just assumed you would know what a DJ was. I mean, it is sort of a straightforward term, but they would mention the word DJ, or the person DJ so and so, and not offer any explanation about what exactly he would do and how he got that specific title.

Giving the speech was not that bad. I actually was a lot calmer this time around. I had all of my materials ready and I was ready to go. In comparison to my class mates, I think some people memorized their speeches for the most part. That’s another thing I would improve. I would have liked to know a bit more and put in some of my personal experience with Hip-Hop and its effects on me as an individual. I think that might have improved the delivery of my speech because I would have spent less time looking down at my notes. Compared to my expectations I did well. I thought I really got my point across and it was interesting. I would have been very disappointed if I didn’t get any questions at the end, because if not I would have thought I was boring and nobody had the interest in even asking me a question about it. But in the end I did get a lot of questions, and I think that was my favorite part of the whole thing! I loved answering the questions! It made me feel like I knew what I was talking about, even though I did, and that people were interested in what I had to say.

I prepared for the speech in advance because I knew this time I would need to do some research. Like I said I knew what I was talking about, but I didn’t know the history. So in the end it was a learning experience for me too.

In the end I think there were a couple of parts I could improve on, but I also had a lot of favorite parts of the presentation and most of them came from showing the information and examples I had; especially the music in the beginning. I accomplished my goal when Rachael started dancing to the song I was playing! =)

References:

Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. New York: St. Martin’s Press,
2005.

Fricke, Jim, and Charlie Ahearn. Yes Yes Y’all: Oral History of Hip-Hop’s First Decade. Da Capo Press:
USA, 2002.

George, Nelson. Hip-Hop America. New York: Penguin Group, 1998.

Mitchell, Tony, ed. Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA. Wesleyan University Press:
Connecticut, 2001.

Ogg, Alex, and David Upshal. The Hip-Hop Years: A History of Rap. Fromm International: New York,
1999.

Watkins, Craig S. Hip-Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement.
Beacon Press: Boston, 2005.

Experiential Learning #3

Critique on Mary Fisher: “A Whisper of Aids”
Viewed from: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/maryfisheraids.html

As I was browsing through the American Rhetoric speech bank I noticed this speech because of the title, it really caught my attention. Along with the title I decided to choose it because I was looking for a woman speaker and it also came along with a video of the actual speech. I actually thought Mary Fisher was an actress, maybe she is, or did some acting in the past, she does look a little familiar. However, actress or not, the message she put forth with that speech certainly had nothing to do with acting.

The speech started off with a narrative introduction of Mary Fisher who is the daughter of Republican leader and Presidential advisor Max Fisher. She herself has also served the White House Post under President Ford. She is also the founder of the Family AIDS Network. A year before this speech she was diagnosed with HIV. The speech was delivered on August 19, 1992 at the Republican National Convention Address in Houston, Texas. The general purpose and message of the speech was to present a challenge of awareness to the people of her party, the United States, and the World.

In addition to critiquing the speech in general, I also wanted to critique the way in which Mary delivered her speech and the affect her speech and its message had on the audience. To begin the topic was an excellent one. Something as serious as HIV and AIDS always does exactly what an excellent topic is supposed to do, draw attention from listeners. The general purpose of the speech was obvious from the beginning and it did not stray from its meaning. It was clear that the speech was well planned because it had various components that helped the message come across including: personal knowledge and experience, facts, statistics and description, and it developed suspense within the audience. Because Mary has been diagnosed with the disease that she speaks so passionately about she has personal knowledge and experience of its affects, and this identifies with the audience and makes her message that much more special and honorable. The description that she introduces along with the statistics of how many people are and will be affected by this disease in the coming years develops suspense within the audience. They become startled when she mentions how she can identify with the young Black infant that is in the hospital fighting for his life. The speech tends to flow from point to point; the only pauses are used for dramatic purposes only. I couldn’t really tell where her main points began or ended, therefore I don’t know how many she used, but the important thing is that she clearly got her message across.

From the beginning Mary wanted to make it clear that the purpose for her being there was to share her message. After stating this she jumped right in with informing her audience that she was not looking for applause, but requested them to hear her and take action. Her speech was either memorized or was on the teleprompt, I couldn’t really tell. But she did maintain eye contact with members of the audience and the camera. As previously stated, she did make a few pauses to add effect, and it worked. A couple of examples that Mary used to draw in her audience include when she stated “We have killed each other with our ignorance, our prejudice, and our silence.” After she stated this she received applause from the audience. Another example is when she asked the question, “Are you human?” When she asked this question she was referring to the fact that most people mistreat those who are diagnosed with HIV or AIDS. I believe in this she got what she was looking for, a reaction from the audience. The only thing that I found a bit disruptive from the flow of the speech was I was looking for more on the actual disease. I was looking for a little bit more information on what it is and how it actually affects those who are diagnosed with it. I think this might have been a bit more effective, especially to an audience that has abandoned the thought of acknowledging the disease and its effects all together. Other than that her body language was neither good nor bad. It didn’t add or take away, so I guess it really didn’t play too much of a role, so watching it on video didn’t provide me with what I thought it would like gestures or

Lastly, as previously stated, the effect of the speech on the audience was great; and by great I mean huge and lasting. The attention of the audience was captured from the beginning and people didn’t budge until the standing ovation. I believe her speech was successful with the audience because of the topic, of course, and how she told her personal story to reinforce her point, for example bringing in the thought of her kids and how their lives are affected. She also connected with the audience on a personal level by saying that everyone was at risk; she even reinforced a lesson learned, saying “If you believe you’re safe, you’re at risk.” In the end a whole boatload of people were crying; they were obviously touched by the message.

In conclusion, the speech made me feel like I could make a difference. I usually don’t like hearing about topics like this because in the end I feel helpless. At the end of this I felt both helpless and scared. Helpless because I wouldn’t know the first thing to do to help others in this situation, and scared because like she said, once you think your safe, you’re at risk. Whatever the case may be I know the message got across to its audience and I hope there are others out there making a difference.

Experiential Learning #2

Critique on Malcolm X: “The Ballot or the Bullet”
Read from: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/index.htm

Let me start off by saying that this was a purely persuasive speech that I very much enjoyed. It seemed to affect me on a personal level so this is what makes me believe that it is a persuasive speech. I evaluated the speech based on its message, structure, and its similarities to the class content being: speech evaluation, ability to listen effectively, and communication anxiety.

This speech was delivered by Malcolm X on April 12, 1964 in Detroit, Michigan. The purpose of the speech was to discuss the political and economic philosophy of Black Nationalism. He also talked about the suffering of political oppression, economic situation, and social degradation by African Americans. The message was effective through Malcolm X using plenty of examples to further relate the message to his audience. For example, he used Cassius Clay, also known as Muhammad Ali as an example stating that only by swinging did he receive the title of World Champion rather than singing. His point was that the civil rights movement was going nowhere unless further action was taken to change the plight of African Americans. He was disputing the fact that the civil rights movement was based on non-violent actions rather than gaining freedom at any price. This is where the title “The Ballot or the Bullet” came into play. He was expressing the fact that there should be freedom for everybody or freedom for nobody.

In terms of the structure of the speech, he began by making the point that religion should play no part in the struggle because it would only lead to arguments and more separation rather than coming together to reach a common goal, and that was his introduction. He followed with Black Nationalism being a self-help philosophy and followed with yet another example of how African Americans are trapped in their current situation. Afterwards he discussed how the protest needs to be more forceful, Cassius Clay example, how the structure of the government plays an influence on the situation of African Americans, and why it’s the year of “The Ballot or the Bullet” and how this it is now considered a revolution. I also picked up on the fact that he was committed to the subject at hand and really wanted to help make a difference in the situation. His speech also had a clear purpose that was becoming more and more evident throughout the speech. The topic was fresh. It was one that was on the minds of every individual in his audience and he keep it fresh with this examples and by relating it to everybody; and even though the topic appealed to the audiences senses, he made it clear that he was not trying to please them, therefore it was also ethical because it demonstrated the respect for the audience and provided responsible knowledge. It also provided concern for the consequences of receiving the message, which according to the speech should be taken in stride and without concern. These are the things that helped me evaluate the speech effectively.

In terms of listening effectively, I was able to listen critically, appreciatively, and constructively. First off I was trying to both analyze and evaluate the message of the speech. I found that the message had many points to back it up and in total it was very persuasive to reach the goal. When listening appreciatively I found that I was actually enjoying the speech, I wasn’t just listening to it because I was trying to evaluate it, I begin to take interest in what he was saying. It was very inspirational and contained lively, vivid language. Lastly, I was listening constructively, though I felt the value of the message was not hard to detect.

My final point realizes that Malcolm X showed no sign of communication anxiety. Given the fact that I was not able to evaluate his body language because I was listening and reading the speech rather than watching it; I was able to notice that there seemed to be absolutely no sign of stage fright in his voice. He consistently used plenty of variation in his speech which was evident in his voice, such as loudness and rate change. This indicated to me that he was completely comfortable in his surroundings and if that wasn’t the case, then he certainly did a great job disguising the fact.

In conclusion, in addition to the speech affecting me on a personal level its purpose, structure and overall evaluation helped suggest that this speech was very effective and was indeed able to express its message to its audience.

Source:
Osborn, Suzanne. and Osborn, Michael. Public Speaking. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006.